Hello, I am designing a PCB for a project of mine, the schematic is done now I need to create the PCB layout. The PCB is supposed to be manufactured by JLCPCB, and I use their parts catalogue for sourcing parts, my question is how can I get the footprints out of there? In the CAD model section is a link to EasyEDA where the footprint is available, and I for the life of me couldn’t get a footprint out of it, I could only download a footprint in the SVG format, I tried an Inkscape add-on for converting SVGs to footprints but couldn’t get it to work. Any ideas on what to try next would be greatly appreciated.
There is nothing special about footprints. You can just use KiCad’s default footprints whenever they are available for parts in the same packages.
KiCad has quite good editors for both schematic symbols and PCB footprints. A lot of people are apprehensive for making their own footprints, while making your own footprints can be quicker then trying to find something on the internet.There is a bit of a learning curve, part of that is library management (which you have to learn when using KiCad anyway), and part for what makes sense in footprint design / geometry. (Which is handy to know also, it also helps with judging the quality of footprints you find on the 'net.
There is also automotion plugin on Kicad repository to generate the output files needed to PCB production and assembly (you still need to specify the part number of the components).
I know KiCad footprints are available, but they are not usually available for the parts I am looking for. I would like to be able to download the footprints from JLCPCB/EasyEDA as they are, in my experience, a good match for the components and it seems redundant to create them again if they are already available. But, if there is no solution to download them from JLCPCB, then I’m going to have to design them myself. Regarding the link you sent, it seems to me that that is a plugin for downloading 3D models of finished boards from EasyEDA, and not for footprints, please correct me if I’m wrong.
That might be useful later on when I’m sending the board off for manufacturing, do you by any chance remember what’s the name of the plugin. I found this one: https://github.com/bennymeg/JLC-Plugin-for-KiCad.
If you just want to get some footprints that are not in KiCad quickly, then websites such as SnapEda and PCB libraries are also options. I do not see a good reason for only looking at import from Easy EDA just because you want to buy your PCB’s from JLC.
That definitely is a good solution, my reason for wanting to import from EasyEDA is that they already have the exact footprint for the part you want to use, and there is no scouring dozens of websites looking for one.
I didn’t know it would be so simple. I am very new to this, but where can I get KiCad 7.99, I tried googling but nothing much came up, only the repository for 7.99, do I have to build it from source?
7.99 is also called Nightly Development Builds, or just “Nightlies”.
https://www.kicad.org/ then choose your poison OS, I mean.
7.99 (Nightlies) can be found under the current Stable Release.
BE AWARE: Kicad 7.99 is a development program that may have many bugs. It will become Kicad 8 around Feb.2024.
Anything made with 7.99 CAN NO LONGER BE OPENED WITH 7.0.x. (that includes 7.0.9 & 7.0.10)
Once you are in 7.99 with a project, there is no way back to 7.0.x. with that project.
Both SnapEDA and PCB libraries each have over a million of footprints available. There are about a dozen of such sites, and you only need to pick one. I have been confused about how they get the data for some time, and it appears that the part manufacturers put effort and money into it make it easier to use their parts.
Also, Do you have some kind of overview of the footprints you need?
I am “old school” myself. I usually make my own footprints, and would have made a handful of them easily in the two days this thread is running. Making a footprint takes somewhere between 5 minutes (for something simple) and half an hour (for more complicated footprints).
It’s exactly this that I used last time (I had also contributed with some coffee improvement). See that you can install directly by Kicad without concern with manual download.
I try to use the base Kicad libraries, always that is puddle, and draw my specific part missing on official library. With the adjustment of plugin to export the assembly file I never experienced much problem.
jmk pointed me in the right direction, I was able to download the 7.99 nightly, and the feature works as advertised, I’m definitely gonna use it when KiCad 8 comes out. For now though I think I’m gonna keep using KiCad 7 and use the easyeda2kicad script maui recommended. Thanks.
I understand wanting to make your own footprints, I am like that when it comes to 2D graphical design. But, I am new to this so wanted to make it easier for myself, although I’m probably going to need to make some footprints myself for the stuff that’s not on JLC or SnapEDA. I’m mostly going to use footprints for microcontroller boards and some SMD connectors, nothing to special, or hard to make.
